Category: Bible Study

“The scribes and Pharisees were on the watch to see if He would perform a cure on the Sabbath so that they could find a charge against Him.” –Luke 6:7 Jesus could have healed the man with a withered hand on a day other than the Sabbath or in private. Yet Jesus refused to be intimidated and manipulated by His enemies. In fact, Jesus publicly displayed this healing on the Sabbath (Lk 6:8ff). As expected, Jesus’ opponents “went crazy” (see Lk 6:11) and eventually had Him crucified. Jesus is courageous, fearless, and confrontational. He did not compromise His principles, even...

Jesus “put His fingers into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.” –Mark 7:33 Jesus’ gestures of inserting his fingers into a deaf-mute man’s ears and touching the man’s tongue seem foreign to our modern, antiseptic culture. Yet if you’re baptized, you experienced the touch of Jesus in a similar way. At baptism, the priest or deacon touched your ears and lips, praying that God would open your ears to hear His Word and your lips to proclaim it. Before Jesus touched the deaf-mute, “He looked up to heaven and emitted a groan. He said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (that...